NPM Playbook

NPM (node package manager) is a package management tool for Node.js.
Node.js is an open source JavaScript runtime built on Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine. Node.js uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and efficient. Note that Node.js is a server side runtime environment rather than a language.

Initial project

package.json will be firstly created by npm init:

$ npm init  # create package.json

• package.json includes four main parts: basic module info, dependencies, devDependencies, scripts:

  // package.json
  	
  {
    "name": "nodexpress",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "description": "",
    "main": "app.js",
    "scripts": {
      "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
      "start": "node app.js"
    },
    "author": "tony",
    "license": "ISC",
    "dependencies": {
      "express": "^4.13.3"
    },
    "devDependencies": {
      "gulp": "^3.9.0",
      "gulp-inject": "^1.5.0",
      "gulp-jscs": "^2.0.0",
      "gulp-jshint": "^1.11.2",
      "gulp-nodemon": "^2.0.6",
      "jshint-stylish": "^2.1.0",
      "wiredep": "^3.0.0"
    }
  }

• scripts inside packages.json to run shell commands

  $ npm start will run $ node xx.js
  $ npm run xxx for custom commands
  
  // packages.json
  "scripts": {
      "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
      "start": "node app.js"
    },

• versioning packages

  "express": "^4.13.3" => will install the latest "4.XX.X" verison
  "express": "~4.13.3" => will install the latest "4.13.X" verison
  "express": "4.13.3"  => will keep this version

• default settings for package.json

  $ npm set init-author-name 'Tony'
  $ npm get init-author-name
  Tony
  $ npm config delete init-author-name
  $ cat ~/.npmrc   # all the default settings will be saved inside this file.
  init-author-name=Tony

Install and uninstall packages

Search nodejs packages: https://www.npmjs.com/

• Project with packages.json can install(update) modules easily:

  $ npm install  # automatically install dependencies inside packages.json

• Install single module, for shorhands: https://docs.npmjs.com/misc/config

  $ npm install express --save       # save dependency into package.json
  $ npm install gulp --save-dev      # save devDependency into package.json
  $ npm install bower -g      # install global, so can call bower inside terminal
  
  $ npm install express@"4.2.x" --save     # install specific version
  $ npm install underscore@">=1.1.0 <1.4.0" --save
  
  $ npm i express -S    # Shorthands for --save
  $ npm i gulp -D      # for --save-dev

• Remove

  $ npm uninstall [-g] underscore --save  # remove dependency from pkg.json
  $ npm prune                             # add extraneous pkg into pkg.json
  $ npm prune --production                # rm dev dependencies from pkg.json

• Upgrade npm

  $ npm i npm@latest -g

List installed packages

$ npm list --depth 0 
nodexpress@1.0.0 /Users/tony/Hacker/nodexpress
├── express@4.13.3
├── gulp@3.9.0
├── gulp-inject@1.5.0
├── gulp-jscs@2.0.0
├── gulp-jshint@1.12.0
├── gulp-nodemon@2.0.6
├── jshint-stylish@2.1.0
└── wiredep@3.0.0

$ npm list --depth 0 --prod true    # production dependencies packages only
nodexpress@1.0.0 /Users/tony/Hacker/nodexpress
└── express@4.13.3
  
$ npm list --depth 0 --dev true     # devDependencies packages only
nodexpress@1.0.0 /Users/tony/Hacker/nodexpress
├── gulp@3.9.0
├── gulp-inject@1.5.0
├── gulp-jscs@2.0.0
├── gulp-jshint@1.12.0
├── gulp-nodemon@2.0.6
├── jshint-stylish@2.1.0
└── wiredep@3.0.0

$ npm list --global true --depth 0  # global packages
/usr/local/lib
├── bower@1.7.2
├── gulp@3.9.0
├── hexo-cli@0.2.0
└── npm@3.3.12

$ npm list --depth 0 --long true   # detail info
$ npm list --depth 0 --json true   # detail info with json format

Package official github repo

$ npm repo underscore   # Jump to browser and open github repo